It almost seems too obvious to mention, but we have to consider the historical context and lack of technology at the time the Old Testament oral histories were handed down.
If we expect to find, 'and I saw the silvery machine flying across the sky', then our expectations are out of line with historical reality.
However, that does not mean that there were not flying machines hovering, flying and soaring above their heads. After all, modern day witnesses refer to UFOs as 'flying saucers' though the term is not taken literally. We need to do the same for the ancient descriptions.
Since, in their experience, the only thing that was in the sky were birds and clouds; quite naturally "clouds" became the metaphor for UFOs (flying machines). In fact, these 'clouds' are the most common descriptions of flying vehicles laced throughout the Old Testament.
Ezekiel the Prophet's Account
As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.
[If this is not an extraterrestrial UFO craft, then what is it? Ezekiel goes so far as to tell us
..."as it were gleaming metal..." To fail to understand his description is then an act of choice and calculation, which are not justifiable in our current technological civilization.]
"...Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. 24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse..."
[A brilliantly shining object hovered over the "creatures", (automatons), and a voice came from it. Notice that Ezekiel says "like" crystal, in other words, he is indicating that this object was very shiny, almost translucent.]
"...And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a HUMAN appearance."
[Again Ezekiel was careful to say that there was the "likeness of a throne", not a throne exactly but like a throne...a high backed chair...and sitting on that chair was a HUMAN looking personage. Not GOD but a physical being that appeared human-like. Those are the Prophet's actual words, what you have been told are later Church misinterpretations.]
He was describing a physical reality in plain words. .
"...upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around."
[With great clarity and using the most powerful words he possessed, Ezekiel goes on to describe the interior of a space craft. Gleaming metal lit up with reddish lights and the lighting hitting the metal giving off (rainbow looking) spectral patterns. Nothing new to 21st century humans, however, totally outside of Ezekiel's experience.]
"Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking."
[Overcome by the power and strangeness of his experience Ezekiel fell face down on the ground as the "lord" speaks.]
When Moses went up the side of Mt. Sinai he spoke to the "lord" face-to-face. When the lord came down and 'hovered' over his tent in the desert, they spoke face-to-face.
The word "hovering" is the most common way that modern witnesses describe the behavior of UFOs.
Christ said that when He returned to Earth he would come in the "clouds" from the heavens with an army and all the earth would be witness. Flying on a natural cloud with an army, also on clouds, that the whole world can see? Appearing in an advanced spacecraft and encircling the entire globe is the only way to make sense out of his words. It is also the only way that all of humanity would be a witness and overcome by awe, fear and trembling regardless of their spiritual beliefs.
If you are a Jew or Christian, beware. If the traditional interpretation is wrong then expect Christ to return leading an army of silvery, disk-shaped flying machines (clouds) that no nation will be able to deny or combat. Do Christians really expect Him to arrive on natural clouds as if in a fairytale, how would that be possible?
When the Old Testament text says that Jehovah rides 'a swift cloud', are we to believe that he is literally sitting atop an insubstantial (misty) cloud speeding through the sky?
Those were simply metaphors that we continue to misinterpret at our own peril.
Perhaps the Wheel within a wheel, were parallel. I once saw something that was counter rotating on the outside of a craft. *And no,I wasn't mistaken.